Last summer, the Golden State Warriors were looking for a big man to put next to David Lee and forced the Clippers hand — would the Clippers match a four year, $48.2 million contract offer for DeAndre Jordan? How badly did the Clippers want to keep Jordan next to Blake Griffin?

Badly enough to match the cash.

Except now in the playoffs when the the game was on the line Jordan isn’t next to Griffin. He’s sitting. Jordan played no minutes in the fourth quarter of Game 6. It was the same in the fourth quarter and overtime of Game 5. Despite being up against a team with one of the biggest front lines in the Association, Jordan sits and veteran Reggie Evans gets the run.

The energy he brings and the spotlight of the playoffs has turned Evans into a cult hero among Clippers fans. They were chanting his name in the fourth quarter Friday night.

By contrast, Jordan seems a ghost.

He had 7 points and 4 rebounds in 18 minutes of play in Game 6. Outside of finishing a crowd-igniting dunk off a Blake Griffin hustle play in the third quarter it’s hard to think of how Jordan impacted the game. It’s easy to think of how Evans did, for better and worse.

For the series Jordan is averaging 4.2 points and 4.3 rebounds a game. Chris Paul is out rebounding Jordan. His PER dropped from an above average 16.4 in the season to 10.4 in the playoffs — the kind of number that has you sitting on the bench late. He talked about it to the L.A. Times.

“I’m just not playing well,” Jordan said. “I’m just not getting the job done. It isn’t like I’m not trying. I know I have to do a better job. I’m trying.”

Coach Vinny Del Negro covers for him — “I just thought Reggie was playing well” — but the holes in Jordan’s game are too big at this point in the playoffs. His inconsistent offense (unless he gets dunks), and leaving his defensive and rebounding responsibilities to chase blocks are the kind of things that just can’t happen in the playoffs. Del Negro said Jordan needs to just be physical and get leverage against the big Memphis front line if he wants to stay on the court more. He’s not banging with Memphis

This is not to knock Jordan (well, completely), he’s 23, in his fourth NBA season and first playoffs. There is a whole lot of room for growth from these experiences. If he works at it the lessons learned here he could have a big role in the Clippers playoff run next year.

Rather, this is a cautionary parable about team building. The Clippers paid a steep price to keep Jordan and they will have him for a couple more years at least. In the run up to this season it seemed keeping Jordan as part of the core of this team was, if not the right move, a defensable move. But it’s hard to predict how a player will develop (or will not develop, particularly off an odd lockout summer). And the playoffs are not about teaching moments.

This summer will tell the tale with Jordan when he returns. The Clippers are taking steps forward with Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. We’ll see if Jordan can take the steps needed along with them.

He told plenty of people – including the Pacers – he planned to leave for the Lakers in the summer of 2018. Even after the Thunder traded for him, George spoke of the lure of playing for his hometown team.

Of course, George also left the door open to re-signing with Oklahoma City. He proclaimed he’d be dumb to leave if the Thunder reached the conference finals or upset the Warriors.

So far, Oklahoma City (12-14) doesn’t even look like a playoff lock, let alone a team capable of knocking off Golden State or reaching the conference finals. So, cue the inevitable speculation.

Do these executives have inside information into George’s thinking, or are they just speculating based on already-available information? Some executives are incentivized to drum up the Lakers threat, because they want to trade for George themselves now. If these executives insist George will leave for Los Angeles regardless, they might pry him from Oklahoma City for less.

There’s also a theory George is hyping his desire to sign with the Lakers so a team would have to trade less for him. That got him to the Thunder for what looked like a meager return (but hasn’t been). It might get him to a more favorable situation before the trade deadline without hampering his next team long-term. Of course, this theory isn’t mutually exclusive with George actually signing in Los Angeles. It could just get him better options to choose from this summer.

Surely, the Thunder are trying to parse all this noise. If their season doesn’t turn around, they should explore flipping George rather than risk losing him for nothing next summer. But they should also be wary that he’ll bolt for Los Angeles at first opportunity just because rival executives predict it.